At Union Station on the Gold Line platform this past Saturday, the commuters and sojourners of the Los Angeles weekend are greeted by the unfamiliar sound of…poets. A group of men and women — all ages and ethnicities — are reading lines in Spanish and English, blaring out their tropes into the air with the courage of warriors before battle. They all take turns reading. Some of the passengers try to ignore the voices, others are listening casually, and some are entranced, standing around and clapping, ignoring the MTA official’s voice coming through the speakers.

[snip]

“There is no better way than motion,” says Jessica Ceballos, a poet and curator at Beyond Baroque and Avenue 50 studios and architect of Poesia Para La Gente, on how to bring poetry to the masses. “Moving to one part of the city, to the other, with each stop, and the motion of the train, you have a new demographic within all the boroughs of L.A….It’s a communication across all cultures, and poetry can break down some walls that we have in communication.”

[snip]

But not everyone riding the metro is happy to hear poetry. Back in August, when the Poesia Para La Gente were reading on the Red Line, they were met with mixed reactions. One girl who was slumped against the window watching the emptiness of the tunnel said she was too hung over to deal with them and wanted them to stop.

The Beverly Hills Unified School District hires a new law firm for its federal lawsuit against Metro that is challenging the Purple Line Extension’s environmental studies. Lieberman tells the Courier: “I am thrilled to be representing BHUSD in this case because I believe strongly that the Board is right and Metro is wrong. Our firm will do everything we can to make sure justice is done and BHUSD wins.”

Overall, the L.A. area does well owing to its size. But Atlantic Cities breaks down the numbers further and says that other areas are actually faring better in terms of jobs available compared to their relative size. At that point, big areas such as New York and L.A. tumble down the list while areas such as San Jose (tech) and D.C. (government) rise to the top.

Interesting article on the “remarkable contribution” that freeways have made to the American culture and economy — something the author says is often overlooked. Excerpt:

The constant criticism also makes it difficult to appreciate these roads as cultural artifacts and a wonderful way to see the country. This is all the more surprising since Americans in recent years have been discovering the rich legacy of our nation’s highways. There has been spate of books that celebrate travel on America’s pre-freeway-era highways. Many authors wax eloquent over the remaining motels, fast food restaurants and drive in theatres along US 66 or advise motorists on finding abandoned segments of roadway by passed by later highway alignments.

The article is accompanied by a list and photo essay of notable freeways and/or freeway locations in the U.S. and the I-10 in Southern California manages to make the list twice (and once more in the Phoenix area). The photo of the Santa Monica Freeway appears to have been taken very early on a weekend morning!

One other thing: if the author is the one taking the photos — they’re uncredited — someone should tell him he’s not welcome back in California if he’s going to drive and photograph at the same time.

[…] In today’s blog, they link to an article about the best metro areas for college grads to find work, review what happens when you read poetry on the LA Metro, and offer other interesting features. […]

” blaring out their tropes into the air ” Sounds like they were inviolation of the rules about being noisy on the trains and busses. They should all be fined. ” Some of the passengers try to ignore the voices” & “But not everyone riding the metro is happy to hear poetry.” Just because it is art, that does not make it ok to violate the rules. Same thing as the people who try to busk on the train btween stops.